Summary: The Sorting.
A/N: Okay, I couldn't help it, I've done the epilogue. So now I can change the story's status to 'complete'. Thank you to all those who have now reviewed. I'm happy to know many of you stayed with me til the end! :D
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They were created by JK Rowling. I'm just borrowing them for a little while and I don't make a penny off of this.
EPILOGUE
"He's so happy!" Andromeda indulgently watched her grandson run around the room waving his Hogwarts letter.
"Don't you want to see you cake?" his father asked, cautiously holding the cake above the long Gryffindor red and Slytherin green streaked black hair. Teddy preferred to grow his hair as long as his other father's and often wore it red with highlights in other colours.
"Do you think it wise to give him sugar? I dare say he's got enough energy as is," Snape drawled. "At least this infernal party will end early."
Remus rolled his eyes and put the cake away. "Infernal party that you decided we should have."
"I did no such thing. I distinctly recall Teddy convincing you to throw him the party. He didn't come to me because he knows I am the strict parent."
Remus snorted at the word strict. "You mean you tricked him into thinking it was his idea and convinced him to come to me. Why else did he ask for a Slytherin themed party?"
"His grandmother is also a Slytherin, if you will recall," Snape's smirk turned into a smug grin as the smug expression on Andromeda's face struggled to look innocent when Remus' eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Uh-uh. You're both wrong," Teddy panted as his elliptical orbit neared them. "It was…"
"What? I couldn't hear you," Remus shouted.
"Really, Remus, must you encourage him? There is no need to shout. Either you ask him to repeat as he nears us or, better yet, stop him from this dizzying endeavour," his husband snapped.
"Teddy, whose idea was it?"
"Mine!"
"Slytherin!" Andromeda and Severus chorused smugly. The party had been allowed because all three adults were led to think one of the others had suggested it.
"Might I remind you that his mother and grandfather were both Hufflepuffs? It's anyone's guess what he'll become," Remus pouted. Circe, could he really handle another Slytherin?!
"Nah-ah," Teddy bounced on his heels in a continuous blur of movement. "It's the Sorting Hat's guess, isn't it, Papa?"
"Yes, of course," Snape smirked, proudly rumpling the now green and black streaked hair.
***
Harry and Ginny Potter Apparated to Hedwig's Hope's where they met Draco and Hermione Malfoy who had themselves recently arrived. The two couples greeted each other warmly.
Hedwig's Hope was a group effort. After the war, Harry was inundated with pleas for help from many charities and victims of the war. Many of their stories were heart-wrenching but it was the letters from orphaned children unhappily left with bitter relatives that bothered him most. Little Ellen Hollingberry had been separated from her younger brother, Mark and begged Harry to reunite them. The half-blood witch had been sent to live with an aged pureblood aunt who had privately supported Voldemort's cause. She only accepted Ellen because the child had already shown signs of being a strong witch but refused Mark because who appeared to be a squib. He had been sent to live with Muggle relatives who disliked magic almost as much as the Dursleys or Snape's father.
Elizabeth Brealey was a Muggle-born witch who had been rescued from her scared and confused relatives. Unfortunately the childless wizard couple that adopted her were murdered by Snatchers during the war.
Even purebloods were not exempted. Jonathan Domville's father and uncles were Death Eaters and had all either died during the war or now resided in Azkaban. The boy's mother had sent Harry an angry but frightened letter, blaming him for the poverty that she and her disturbed son now lived in. Jonathan had been a second year student at Durmstrang when his family was torn apart and a wealthy benefactor had paid his fees. Unfortunately, even Durmstrang, a school where the Dark Arts were openly taught, had soon expelled him for their excessive use. Memories of Gellert Grindelwald were still too raw.
Their stories were less than a drop in sea of despair and Harry worried about their futures. Ginny, still his girlfriend at the time, often visited orphanages and St. Mungo's with the Holyhead Harpies and spent many hours crying at the stories she heard and saw.
They originally contemplated opening a small orphanage and discussed the possibilities with the Weasleys and Hermione. They knew the impact of one small orphanage would be small yet they agreed that larger impersonal institutions were not the answer. They tried simply donating to existing orphanages but Harry was disillusioned with the way his first two donations were utilized. More beds in orphanages and monthly handouts to impoverished families hardly seemed the right idea.
Hermione suggested visiting a Muggle charity called SOS Children's Villages and Harry believed in the charity's concept immediately. He wanted to create a Wizarding village, adopting ideas from SOS villages around the world. He also wanted to adapt the charity's community outreach programmes to the needs of the Wizarding world. Harry imagined a magical orphan's utopia and had many ideas. He wanted to protect as many war orphans as possible from miserable childhoods like his and Snape's, but also from unhappy and misunderstood childhoods like Tom Riddle's. Fortunately, Hermione was the voice of reason and Ginny was the mediator while Ron was able to develop logistical possibilities that satisfied everyone.
Once Harry had decided on Godric's Hollow as the location for 'Hedwig's Hope', his children's village, he used his property and acquired several of destroyed and abandoned properties. Soon they were even bequeathed properties. Hermione and Draco crossed paths during this time and had a bit of an argument that apparently somehow ended with Malfoy bemoaning his inability to live up to his father's charismatic powers. Hundreds of thousands of galleons in donations had done nothing to improve Malfoy prestige or restore the family's name.
Hermione never quite explained how it went from there to her and Malfoy dating but the Slytherin Prince proved to be much more charismatic than he'd given himself credit for. With Hermione's authoritative guiding hand, he used his money, knowledge of wizarding culture, social connections and cunning charm for the benefit of the charity.
Today was one of the charity's quarterly board meetings. The friends strolled through the village greeting people as they went. To the front of the property was Checkmate, a large research library and archive which was named in honour of Ron Weasley. While the final battle had claimed only Percy, Molly had soon lost her youngest son to rogue Death Eaters that the rookie Auror had been helping to capture. Checkmate was an independent research body with departments for Muggle Studies, DADA research and even communications and medical studies which integrated Muggle Technologies and magic.
Draco and Bill Weasley were both consultants specializing in Defence Against the Dark Arts including curse-breaking and the repair and disassembly of Dark objects. Both men consulted for the British Ministry of Magic as well as other Ministries and academic institutions world wide. Draco also gave speeches at conferences and wrote books based on his and Bill's research. The two men had become close friends much to their wives chagrin, which resulted in an uneasy truce between two women which rather entertained everyone else.
Remus' suspicion that Voldemort's defeat would not necessarily improve his lot was unfortunately proven prophetic. He and Hermione were tireless advocates for magical creatures and half-breeds. Their independent offices at Checkmate allowed them to challenge prejudicial laws drafted by the Ministry and the Wizengamot and they were both feared and respected to the infinite pleasure and pride of their spouses.
The couples walked through the quirky village, waving at children in their classrooms at the village's pre-Hogwarts preparatory school.
"Oh, there's Neville," Ginny waved to the stout man exiting Lily Blossom Laboratories, the naturalist centre which ran along the back of the village estate. Lily Blossom was home to a renowned apothecary managed by Severus Snape and a much envied greenhouse supervised by Neville. Hogwarts' youngest professor had originally set up and ran the greenhouses. It forced Neville to improve on the bravery for which he had become known after the final battle.
He no longer trembled at the very sight of Snape and was even known to visit the Lupin-Snapes on purely social visits. Snape had a grudging respect for his former student's bravery in killing Nagini and obvious natural talent at herbology. Even their own friends and spouses still held their breaths whenever Neville dared to negotiate trades of rare plants for rare potions but Snape rarely became enraged, seeming to enjoy their little bartering game.
"Where's Severus?" Harry asked Neville as they entered the Pottery Barn, a large farm outbuilding that had been converted as the village's main administrative centre. It was also where Harry and Ginny shared an office space from which they managed their philanthropic efforts and fan mail.
"Remus thought it would be best if they had a talk… another talk, before our meeting," Luna answered, her arm linked with her fiancé's. Rolf and Luna also had offices in Lily Blossom although they spent very little time in Godric's Hollow. Luna travelled around the globe consulting on nature reserves where rare magical creatures nearing extinction could be protected. She was still searching for the Crumple Horned Snorkack. She met Rolf on one of these many journeys and the two started off as friends. The relationship's progress was slow but steady.
"Oh dear," Hermione chuckled, "It's the September 3rd. I take it that Teddy wasn't a Slytherin then?"
"No, he wasn't," Narcissa Malfoy sounded aggrieved. Narcissa was always a follower and after losing Bella, she seemed completely lost. Hermione had happily reintroduced her to her own sister, hoping that this sister would prove a better influence on the impressionable woman. "Poor Andy was quite disappointed though nowhere as upset as Severus."
"Was he a Gryffindor, then?" Ginny asked hopefully. She was quite fond her Harry's godson.
"No, thank Merlin," Snape drawled, flanked by his amused looking family, Remus and Andromeda.
"A Hufflepuff?" Harry was shocked.
"He's a Ravenclaw!" Snape snapped. "Merlin, Potter, do you ever think before you speak? No son of mine could ever be a Hufflepuff!"
And since everyone, including Remus, knew that Teddy was his father's son, no one disagreed.